Coronavirus Things:/

Hi guys,

So I wasn’t going to say very much about this originally, simply because I felt that there already are too many people talking about it and stuff like that, but having seen what I’ve seen over the past few days, I do feel that this is something I would like to address in my space.

First of all, it’s no secret by now that I am a Victorian. I studied at VJC and even though I didn’t have the best time of my life there, I still spent 2 years of my life there at Marine Vista. I am still attached to the school. So you can imagine how shaken I was, how shaken we all were when news that our teacher was infected with the nCoV.

I still remember that I was texting my juniors that morning, when news that the annual Fountain of Wealth orientation finale was cancelled. Even though we understood why it had to be done, we were still upset. Seniors felt that it was a pity because that was one of the main highlights of orientation, one final night of raving and going crazy before the hectic academic year started for the J1s. Juniors were disappointed because they heard so much about it from us, and they were really looking forward to experiencing it for themselves. That morning, my Insta stories were flooded with pictures and videos from FOW 2019 and 2018. My batchmates were all posting about it, and I understand why. FOW is part of what makes our orientation programme so special, and it has an undeniably special place in out hearts.

So if that was our reaction to the cancellation of a school event, imagine our reaction when the news that our teacher was infected came out. It was a shock definitely. But even in that shock, I couldn’t help but wonder whether her case was over-sensationalised. Our teacher was not the only case that was announced that day, but our school’s name was plastered on the headlines of so many articles. Honestly, that’s still something I’m thinking about, even though it has been quite a few days since it happened.

This past weekend though, I realised that the Victorian Spirit is so much stronger than I perceived it to be when I was still in school. When I texted my teachers just to check in with them, they all spoke with the same conviction. ‘We will get through this together.’ There was so much conviction in each of their voices. When I looked at the posts on @thevictorianverve, @thevictorianpress, @victoriajc_official and those on my batchmates private accounts, posts that rallied the school spirit, posts that reassured us… I can’t exactly put this in words but I felt better, stronger, safer. The Victorian Spirit in me just felt like it was burning brighter than ever.

#VJunite

But when I saw Minister Ong Ye Kung’s post on instagram (@ongyekung), I was so glad, but also very upset.

On one hand, I was really glad that spirits were still high in school. I haven’t been back in a while so I’m taking his word for it:) Sure, the kids were upset about not getting to go for CCA sessions but life goes on no matter what and we always make the best of the situation.

But on the other, his recount of what my juniors are facing really upset me as well. People who refused to sit next to them on the bus? Denying them food service? Just because a teacher at our school was infected? I’m sorry but I literally can’t break down in words just how flawed that logic is. I get that everyone is worried and being just a little bit more wary about what is going on around us, but to the point where we start discriminating? That’s when our society will really be in trouble.

I also took some time to scroll through the comments section of the same post. It was filled with mostly positive messages, but the one that really stood out to me was the conversation between @snowbreeeze, and some others. Honestly, it didn’t feel good to be criticised that way, even though he was talking about a whole group of us, not just me directly, but it just didn’t feel good.

Yall can go check out his post, read the comments and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below/ on the contacts page.

Anyway, I guess that’s all I have to say about this. In this difficult period of time, let’s spread love and not worry and hate, shall we?

Till the next post, cyaa!